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Changes in Oregon Law Put Faith-Healing Parents on Trial

OREGON CITY, Ore. — At the Clackamas County courthouse here, Timothy and Rebecca Wyland sat next to each other — ramrod straight, their shoulders barely touching — as they watched images of their daughter flash on the screen.

At birth, the girl, Alayna, was a pink-cheeked bundle, but by 6 months, a growth the size of a baseball had consumed the left side of her face, pushing her eyeball out of its socket. The Wylands, members of the Followers of Christ Church, a faith-healing sect whose members shun medicine, would not take her to a doctor.

“Timothy and Rebecca Wyland — they recognized that medical attention was mandated for this condition,” said Christine Landers, the state prosecutor who is trying the Wylands for first-degree criminal mistreatment, a felony that can carry a five-year prison term. “Instead, they anointed her with oils and laid down hands.”

Mr. Wyland, 45, and Ms. Wyland, 24, are the most recent members of the Followers of Christ Church to face trial for not obtaining medical care for their children.

The church first came under criticism in 1998 after the local news media reported that of the 78 children buried in the church’s graveyard, at least 21 could have survived if they had received medical attention.

At the time, Clackamas County prosecutors said they were prevented from intervening by Oregon laws that gave legal protection to parents who refused because of their faith to seek medical care for their children.

The next year, the state Legislature repealed this exemption.

In 2008, the church was in the spotlight again when two of its young members died. One of them, Ava Worthington, 2, died of pneumonia. Her parents were the first Followers of Christ couple to be criminally charged under the changed state laws. Ava’s father, Carl Worthington, was sentenced to 60 days in prison.

Three months later, Ava’s teenage uncle, Neil Beagley, died of complications resulting from a blocked urinary tract. His parents were tried and sentenced to 16 months in prison.

Another Followers of Christ Church couple is scheduled to stand trial in September for the death of their son, who was born six weeks premature, weighing 3 pounds, 5 ounces. He was born at home and was never taken to the hospital. He lived just nine hours.

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Ms. Swan’s son, Matthew, died of meningitis at 16 months because she and her husband, who were Christian Scientists, trusted religious practitioners to heal him. They left the church after their son’s death.

“The parents are absolutely convinced that God is on their side,” Ms. Swan said. “Nevertheless, society should set forth the standard that children should be protected up until the age of 18. We just can’t let people do whatever they want in the name of religion.”

But Dr. Douglas S. Diekema, a medical ethicist at Children’s Hospital in Seattle, says that more harm than good may have been done to Alayna Wyland when state caseworkers pulled her from her parents’ care. Dr. Diekema testified for the defense in the case against Neil Beagley’s parents.

“For me, the real question is, could you not have done that without taking the child from the parents?” he said. “I think you could accomplish getting some of these kids treated by getting a home health nurse — and if you need a police officer there, that’s fine. But taking a child away from their parents for two months causes harm. People don’t understand that.”

The Followers of Christ Church was founded in Kansas in the early 1900s. In the 1940s, the church’s leader, the Rev. Walter White, moved his congregation to Oregon City, which at the time was a rural farming area. Since then, the city has grown up around the church, most of whose members live here, about a half an hour southeast of Portland, although there are also some in Idaho.

The women in the congregation dress modestly, in long skirts, and they wear their hair long.

On Friday morning, as lawyers for the state and the defense presented their opening statements, members of the church packed the small courtroom here. Among them was Mr. Worthington, whose daughter died three years ago.

As the courthouse buzzed with activity, the cemetery outside of town where the church members are buried was deserted. The cemetery sits off a gravel road in a rural part of the county, about a mile from the highway, and is surrounded by a chain-link fence and marked with “No Trespassing” signs.

Along the fence are grave markers with the names of the dead, including children. Several are those of babies, some with grave markers adorned with flowers and engraved with toy trains and the words “My Little Angel.”

A version of this article appears in print on May 30, 2011, on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Changes in Oregon Law Put Faith-Healing Parents on Trial. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe